Trojan Band Honors Zamperini

Angelina Jolie introduced the USC Trojan Marching Band’s tribute to the late Louis Zamperini via video at halftime of the Notre Dame-USC game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Jolie is the director of Unbroken, the much-anticipated film chronicling Zamperini’s life, which opens Christmas Day.

This unique halftime presentation on Nov. 29 illustrated Zamperini’s life with music, illustrative formations on the field and clips from the movie on the Coliseum’s video board. At the conclusion of the presentation, members of Zamperini’s family and the star of the film, Jack O’Connell, were honored on the field.

“I’m thrilled to salute a great Trojan and a great person,” Arthur Bartner, now in his 45th football season as leader of the band, said of Zamperini, who graduated from USC Dornsife in 1940. “I first met him when he was brought in to talk to the leadership of the band, and he attended many of our events over the years. I’m thrilled that in cooperation with NBC Universal, we can honor one of the greatest Trojans of all time.”

The band’s halftime tribute was part of a larger USC effort to salute the Trojan legend, including the formation of a scholarship in his name awarded annually to a USC track and field athlete and the football team wearing “Z” decals on their helmets during the entirety of the 2014 season.

Saturday’s game marked another milestone for the Trojan Marching Band, named the best band in college football by USA Today. The band also performed alongside multiplatinum recording artist Jason Derulo at a halftime show earlier this year and traveled to every game for the 28th straight season.